Presenting advertisements during media content seek

ABSTRACT

Technologies for presenting an advertisement on a media consumption device includes receiving a request to seek past a commercial included in media content played on the media consumption device, determining an advertisement based on the commercial, and presenting the advertisement to a user of the media consumption device during performance of the requested seek function. The advertisement may be, for example, an extracted frame or image of the commercial and may include a logo or phrase associated with a product or service advertised in the commercial. Similar technologies related to a media content distribution system are also disclosed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage entry under 35 USC §371(b) ofInternational Application No. PCT/US2013/051329, which was filed Jul.19, 2013.

BACKGROUND

Advertisements are an important marketing tool for many companies. Infact, companies often spend a significant portion of their marketingbudget on advertisements. Television and other visual mediaadvertisements are a popular advertisement vehicle that can allow acompany to connect with their target audience. Many visual mediaadvertisements include brand imagery, such as a brand name, logo, orslogan, of the company or the company's product. The use of repeated,constant brand imagery can establish a strong product identity andtrademark for the company.

While advertisements are important to companies for marketing theirproducts or services, some consumers may be ambivalent about suchadvertisements due to various reasons, including disinterest in thecompany or advertised product, over-exposure to the advertisement orproduct, extreme interest in the associated media content, lack of time,and/or other factors. With the advent of digital video recorders (DVRs)and related technology, end users may now seek past the commercialsincluded in previously recorded or streamed media content (e.g., shows,movies, videos, etc.) in a high frame rate fashion. Currently, userscannot immediately or automatically skip over commercials embedded insuch media content; however, the use of high-frame rate seeking allowsthe end users to quickly move past the commercials and to the nextsegment of the show or movie. Because the advertisements are shown atsuch a fast frame rate (or even parsed frames), the advertisements arenot easily viewable or even discernible by the end user. As such, thevalue of the advertisements to the advertising companies is greatlydiminished during media content seeking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The concepts described herein are illustrated by way of example and notby way of limitation in the accompanying figures. For simplicity andclarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures are notnecessarily drawn to scale. Where considered appropriate, referencelabels have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding oranalogous elements.

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of asystem for displaying advertisements during a media content seek;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of anenvironment of a media consumption device of the system of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 is a simplified flow diagram of at least one embodiment ofa method for determining and displaying advertisements during a mediacontent seek that may be executed by the media consumption device ofFIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a simplified flow diagram of at least one embodiment of amethod for generating and distributing a seek advertisement that may beexecuted by a media content distribution system of the system of FIG. 1;and

FIGS. 6A-6F are frames of an illustrative commercial on which the methodof FIGS. 3 and 4 may be applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof havebeen shown by way of example in the drawings and will be describedherein in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is nointent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particularforms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the presentdisclosure and the appended claims.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an illustrative embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodimentdescribed may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but every embodiment may or may not necessarily includethat particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, suchphrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further,when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within theknowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure,or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described.

The disclosed embodiments may be implemented, in some cases, inhardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. The disclosedembodiments may also be implemented as instructions carried by or storedon a transitory or non-transitory machine-readable (e.g.,computer-readable) storage medium, which may be read and executed by oneor more processors. A machine-readable storage medium may be embodied asany storage device, mechanism, or other physical structure for storingor transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., avolatile or non-volatile memory, a media disc, or other media device).

In the drawings, some structural or method features may be shown inspecific arrangements and/or orderings. However, it should beappreciated that such specific arrangements and/or orderings may not berequired. Rather, in some embodiments, such features may be arranged ina different manner and/or order than shown in the illustrative figures.Additionally, the inclusion of a structural or method feature in aparticular figure is not meant to imply that such feature is required inall embodiments and, in some embodiments, may not be included or may becombined with other features.

Referring now to FIG. 1, in the illustrative embodiment, a system 100for presenting advertisements to a user during performance of a mediacontent seek includes a media consumption device 102 and one or moremedia content providers 104, which may communicate with the mediaconsumption device 102 over a network 108. In use, the media consumptiondevice 102 may obtain media content from a remote media provider 104, orother media source, and present the media content to a user of the mediaconsumption device 102 (e.g., display the media content on a displaydevice). A user may operate the media consumption device 102 to initiateplayback of the media content and/or perform other control functions.For example, the user may operate the media consumption device 102 toseek past a commercial included in the media content such that the useris not required to view, or otherwise experience, the commercial in itsentirety. In response to, or prior to, the seek request, the mediaconsumption device 102 (or, in some embodiments, a remote media contentdistribution system 106 of the remote content provider 104) isconfigured to determine an advertisement based on the commercial itselfand present the advertisement to the user of the media consumptiondevice 102 during the performance of the requested seek function asdiscussed in more detail below.

The media consumption device 102 may utilize any suitable methodology todetermine, generate, or otherwise select the advertisement to bepresented during the requested seek functionality. For example, in someembodiments, the media consumption device 102 may extract a frame,image, or audio snippet from the commercial itself. As discussed in moredetail below, the frame, image, or audio snippet may be selected toensure that the advertiser's brand, logo, or phrase is captured in theadvertisement (e.g., a frame of the commercial showing the advertiser'sslogan or logo). In other embodiments, the media consumption device 102may receive the advertisement as metadata or other out-of-band data withthe media content from a remote media content distribution system 106 ora separate remote advertisement distribution system 110. Regardless, themedia consumption device 102 presents the advertisement to the userwhile contemporaneously performing the seek function. In this way, theadvertiser of the commercial can be assured that the user is exposed totheir branded image, logo, or slogan even while the user is seeking pastthe commercial itself. Conversely, in a typical media consumptiondevice, a user is generally allowed to fast forward past a commercial atsuch a high frame rate that the commercial is practically un-viewable bythe user. As such, the impact of the commercial on the user is greatlyreduced, and the commercial spot is of less value to the advertiser.

The media consumption device 102 may be embodied as any type ofcomputing device on which, or via which, media content may be presentedor otherwise consumed. For example, the media consumption device 102 maybe embodied as a set-top-box, a digital media adapter, a digital mediaextender, a digital media streamer, a digital media hub, a digitalrecorder, a “smart” television or appliance, a smartphone, a tabletcomputer, a notebook computer, a laptop or other mobile computer, adesktop computer, or other computing device. As shown in FIG. 1, theillustrative media consumption device 102 includes a processor 120, aninput/output subsystem 122, a memory 124, a display 130, a communicationcircuit 132, a data storage device 134, and one or more peripheraldevices 136. Of course, the media consumption device 102 may includeother or additional components, such as those commonly found in a mediaconsumption device or other computing device (e.g., various input/outputdevices), in other embodiments. Additionally, in some embodiments, oneor more of the illustrative components may be incorporated in, orotherwise form a portion of, another component. For example, the memory124, or portions thereof, may be incorporated in the processor 120 insome embodiments.

The processor 120 may be embodied as any type of processor capable ofperforming the functions described herein. For example, the processor120 may be embodied as a single or multi-core processor(s), digitalsignal processor, microcontroller, or other processor orprocessing/controlling circuit. Similarly, the memory 124 may beembodied as any type of volatile or non-volatile memory or data storagecapable of performing the functions described herein. In operation, thememory 124 may store various data and software used during operation ofthe media consumption device 102 such as operating systems,applications, programs, libraries, and drivers. The memory 124 iscommunicatively coupled to the processor 120 via the I/O subsystem 122,which may be embodied as circuitry and/or components to facilitateinput/output operations with the processor 120, the memory 124, andother components of the media consumption device 102. For example, theI/O subsystem 122 may be embodied as, or otherwise include, memorycontroller hubs, input/output control hubs, firmware devices,communication links (i.e., point-to-point links, bus links, wires,cables, light guides, printed circuit board traces, etc.) and/or othercomponents and subsystems to facilitate the input/output operations. Insome embodiments, the I/O subsystem 122 may form a portion of asystem-on-a-chip (SoC) and be incorporated, along with the processor120, the memory 124, and other components of the media consumptiondevice 102, on a single integrated circuit chip.

The display 130 of the media consumption device 102 may be embodied asany type of display capable of displaying digital information such as aliquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED), a plasmadisplay, a cathode ray tube (CRT), or other type of display device. Insome embodiments, the display 130 may be coupled with a touch screen tofacilitate user interaction. Although the illustrative media consumptiondevice 102 includes the display 130 (e.g., incorporated therein), itshould be appreciated that the media consumption device 102 may becommunicatively coupled to a separate display device 160 in someembodiments. In such embodiments, the media consumption device 102 mayor may not include the display 130. For example, in embodiments in whichthe media consumption device 102 is embodied as a set-top-box or digitalmedia adapter, the media consumption device 102 may be coupled to aseparate display device 160 such as a video monitor or television.

The communication circuit 132 of the media consumption device 102 may beembodied as any communication circuit, device, or collection thereof,capable of enabling communications between the media consumption device102 and the remote media content distribution system 106 and/or theremote advertisement distribution system 110 via the network 108. Thecommunication circuit 132 may be configured to use any one or morecommunication technology (e.g., wireless or wired communications) andassociated protocols (e.g., Ethernet, Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi®, WiMAX, etc.)to effect such communication.

The data storage device 134 may be embodied as any type of device ordevices configured for short-term or long-term storage of data such as,for example, memory devices and circuits, memory cards, hard diskdrives, solid-state drives, or other data storage devices. In someembodiments, the media consumption device 102 may store media content140, or a portion of the media content 140, in the data storage 134. Forexample, in some embodiments, the media consumption device 102 may beconfigured to automatically record media content received from theremote media content distribution system 106 (e.g., when the user isaway or at odd broadcast/streaming times). Additionally, as discussed inmore detail below, the media consumption device 102 may receive seekadvertisements 142 (i.e., advertisements for presentation during theperformance of a requested media content seek function) from the remotemedia content distribution system 106 and/or the remote advertisementdistribution system 110 in some embodiments. In such embodiments, themedia consumption device 102 may also store the seek advertisements 142in the data storage 134.

In some embodiments, the media consumption device 102 may furtherinclude one or more peripheral devices 136. Such peripheral devices 136may include any type of peripheral device commonly found in a servercomputing device such as a hardware keyboard, input/output devices,peripheral communication devices, and/or other peripheral devices.

As discussed above, the media consumption device 102 may receive, orotherwise obtain, media content from one or more media content providers104. The media content provider 104 may be embodied as any type ofcontent provider including, but not limited to, a multichannel videoprogramming distributor (MVPD) configured to provide pay-for or freevideo programming services to viewers via the network 108, televisionbroadcast network configured to transmit television shows to viewersover-the-air and/or via the network 108, online media content providersconfigured to transmit media content over data networks of the network108, and/or other content providers.

Each media content provider may operate one or more remote media contentdistribution systems 106. The remote media content distribution systems106 may be embodied as any device, collection of devices, or systemconfigured to distribute media content to the media consumption device.The particular structure of each remote media content distributionsystem 106 may be dependent on the type of media content provider 104operating the particular remote media content distribution system 106.For example, in the case of an online media content provider, theassociated remote media content distribution system 106 may be embodiedas a data server or collection of data servers. As such, the remotemedia content distribution system 106 may include components, such as aprocessor, memory device, communication circuitry, and data storage,similar to the components of the media consumption device 102, thedescription of each of which is equally applicable to such components ofthe remote media content distribution system 106. Additionally oralternatively, in those embodiments in which the media content provider104 is embodied as a multichannel video programming distributor, theremote media content distribution system 106 may include various mediaservers, satellites, cable TV systems, air broadcast systems, and/oradditional devices, structures, subsystems, and networks.

Regardless of the particular structure, each remote media contentdistribution system 106 may store and manage various media content 150,the type and volume of which may depend on the content provideroperating the remote media content distribution system 106. For example,in embodiments in which the remote media content distribution system 106is operated by a television broadcast network, the media content mayinclude shows, movies, news, and/or similar content. Additionally, insome embodiments as discussed in more detail below, the remote mediacontent distribution system 106 may be configured to determined orgenerate seek advertisements 152 in addition to or alternatively to themedia consumption device 102. In such embodiments, the remote mediacontent distribution system 106 may store the advertisements 152 locallyand transmit the advertisements 152 to the media consumption device 102in association with the media content 150.

In some embodiments, the system 100 may further include a remoteadvertisement distribution system 110. In such embodiments, the seekadvertisements 152 may be determined and/or generated by the remoteadvertisement distribution system 110 in addition to, or alternativelyto, the media consumption device 102 and/or the remote media contentdistribution system 106. In use, as discussed in more detail below, themedia consumption device 102 may communicate with the remoteadvertisement distribution system 110 to request and/or retrieve theseek advertisements 152 as needed.

Although the illustrative system 100 of FIG. 1 includes only one mediacontent provider 104 and one remote advertisement distribution system110, it should be appreciated that the system 100 may include additionalmedia content providers 104 and/or remote advertisement distributionsystems 110 in other embodiments. Additionally, although the mediacontent provider 104 of is shown in FIG. 1 has including a single remotemedia content distribution system 106, each media content provider 104may include multiple remote media content distribution systems 106 inother embodiments. As such, the system 100 may include multiple remotemedia distributions systems 106 operated by one or more media contentproviders 104 in some embodiments.

The network 108 may be embodied as any type of communication networkcapable of facilitating communication between the media consumptiondevice 102 and the remote media content distribution system 106. Assuch, the network 108 may include one or more networks, routers,switches, computers, and/or other intervening devices. For example, thenetwork 108 may be embodied as or otherwise include one or more local orwide area networks, cellular networks, publicly available globalnetworks (e.g., the Internet), an ad hoc network, a short-rangecommunication network or link, or any combination thereof.

Referring now to FIG. 2, in use, the media consumption device 102establishes an environment 200. The environment 200 includes a mediaplayer module 202, an advertisement determination module 204, and acommunication module 206. Each of the media player module 202, theadvertisement determination module 204, the communication module 206,and other modules of the environment 200 may be embodied as software,firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof.

The media player module 202 manages the playback and presentation ofmedia content locally stored on the media player module 202 (e.g., themedia content 140 stored in the data storage 134) and/or received fromthe remote media content distribution system 106 via the communicationmodule 206 (e.g., streamed media content). The media player module 202includes a control module 210 and a media seek module 212. The controlmodule 210 facilitates user control of functionality of the mediaconsumption device 102. For example, the control module 210 may providea graphical user interface or otherwise be receptive to instructionsreceived by a user (e.g., instructions received from a remote control)to perform one or more requested functions such as initiating playbackof media content, retrieving new media content, deleting or modifyingmedia content, and/or the like. However, any requested seekingfunctionality, such as fast-forwarding or rewinding of media content, ishandled by the media seek module 212. For example, in some embodiments,the control module 210 may provide any requested media content seek tothe media seek module 212 for handling as discussed below.

The media seek module 212 performs any requested seeking of the mediacontent. For example, if the user has requested to fast-forward througha portion of the media content, the media seek module 212 performs therequested seek operation by advancing the media content at a referenceor selected seek speed (e.g., a speed ten times the playback speed). Inaddition, if the media content though which the user is seeking includesa commercial, the media seek module 212 communicates with theadvertisement determination module 204 to retrieve an advertisement,which the media player module 202 presents to the user while the mediaseek module is performing the requested seek of the associatedcommercial. For example, in some embodiments, a branded image extractedfrom the commercial itself is received from the advertisementdetermination module 204 and displayed on the display 130 and/or displaydevice 160 during the performance of the requested seek function pastthe associated commercial. As discussed in more detail below, thebranded image may include a brand, logo, slogan, or other trademark orindicia of the advertiser of the commercial such that advertiser's brandis displayed to the user during the seek operation and for the durationof the commercial being played at the seek speed.

The advertisement determination module 204 determines the advertisementthat is to be displayed, or otherwise presented, to the user of themedia consumption device 102 during the performance of a seek functionon a commercial and communicates the advertisement to the media seekmodule 212 of the media player module 202. In the illustrativeembodiment, the advertisement determination module 204 includes abranded image detection module 220, which is configured to analyze thecommercial(s) that is being seeked past to determine an advertisement tobe presented to the user. That is, the branded image detection module220 attempts to locate or identify the brand, logo, phrase, or othertrademark or indicia of the advertiser used in the commercial. To do so,as discussed in more detail below, the branded image detection module220 may use one or more methods to determine and/or generate theadvertisement. For example, in some embodiments, the branded imagedetection module 220 may analyze the commercial to identify consecutiveframes of the commercial that are identical or substantially similar andselect one of those frames as the branded image. In such embodiments, itis acknowledged that may advertisers display their logo or brand imagefor some consecutive period of time during the commercial. Additionallyor alternatively, the branded image detection module 220 may select aframe of the commercial occurring at a specific point in time. Forexample, the branded image detection module 220 may select a frame thatoccurs at a specific point in time prior to the end of the commercial.In such embodiments, it is acknowledged that many advertisers displaytheir brand, logo, phrase, or other trademark or indicia toward the endof the commercial and, generally, display such branding for some periodof time.

In some embodiments, the branded image detection module 220 may performan image recognition analysis procedure on the commercial to identifythe branded image. In such embodiments, the branded image detectionmodule 220 may utilize a policy rule set 222 of the advertisementdetermination module 204. The policy rule set 222 includes a set ofrules usable by the branded image detection module 220 to identify thebrand image, logo, slogan, or other trademark of the advertiser. Forexample, in some embodiments, the policy rule set 222 may include a copyof brand images, logos, slogans, or other trademarks of variousadvertisers, which are compared to the frames or portions of thecommercial to identify the advertiser's branded image. Of course, otherpolicies and rules may be used in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the advertisement determination module 204 mayinclude an advertisement acquisition module 224 in place of, or inaddition to, the branded image detection module 220. The advertisementacquisition module 224 is configured to retrieve previously determinedor generated seek advertisements. For example, as discussed in moredetail below, the advertisement to be displayed or presented to the userduring the performance of a requested seek function may be received inassociation with the media content as metadata or out-of-bandinformation. In such embodiments, the advertisement determination module204 may store such advertisements in the data storage 134 as seekadvertisements 142. Alternatively, in some embodiments, theadvertisement acquisition module 224 is configured to communicate withthe remote media content distribution system 106 and/or the remoteadvertisement distribution system 110 to retrieve the seekadvertisements 152 on an as-needed basis. In such embodiments, asdiscussed in more detail below, the remote media content distributionsystem 106 and/or the remote advertisement distribution system 110 areconfigured to determine, or otherwise generate, the seek advertisements.Such determination or generation of the seek advertisements by thesystems 106, 110 may be performed prior to the distribution of anyassociated media content and commercials or may be performed in responseto a request from the media consumption device 102.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, in use, the media consumption device 102may execute a method 300 for determining and displaying advertisementsin response to a requested media content seek. The method 300 beginswith block 302 in which the media consumption device 102 determineswhether a user has requested to play media content. As discussed above,the media content may be stored locally or may be available from one ormore of the remote media content distribution systems 106 (e.g.,streaming or live content). If the user has requested play of mediacontent, the method 300 advances to block 304 in which the mediaconsumption device 102 determines whether the requested media is storedlocally on the media consumption device 102. For example, the requestedmedia content may be stored in the data storage 134 as media content140. If so, the method 300 advances to block 314 in which the mediaconsumption device 102 retrieves the requested media content and beginsplay of the retrieved media content as discussed in more detail below.

However, if the requested media content is stored on, or otherwiseavailable from the remote media content distribution system 106, themethod 300 advances to block 306. In block 306, the media consumptiondevice 102 communicates with the remote media content distributionsystem 106 from which the requested media content is available toretrieve the requested media content. In block 308, the mediaconsumption device 102 receives the requested media content from theremote media content distribution system 106. As discussed above, themedia content may be received as downloaded content or streamed contentfrom the remote media content distribution system 106. Additionally, insome embodiments, the media consumption device 102 also receives one ormore seek advertisements in block 310. As discussed above, the remotemedia content distribution system 106 and/or the remote advertisementdistribution system 110 may determine or generate the advertisements tobe presented to the user of the media consumption device 102 duringperformance of a requested media content seek. In such embodiments, thepre-determined or pre-generated advertisements may be received in block310 in association with the media content (i.e., the commercialsincluded in the media content) received in block 308. Subsequently, inblock 312, the media consumption device 102 stores the received mediacontent, and any received seek advertisements, in the data storage 134.

In block 314, the media player module 202 of the media consumptiondevice 102 begins play of the requested media content. Again, asdiscussed above, the media content may be embodied as previouslyrecorded or stored media content, media content downloaded from a remotemedia content distribution system 106, media content streamed from aremote media content distribution system 106, or other type of mediacontent. During the play of the media content, the media player module202 monitors for commands received from the user of the mediaconsumption device 102 and responds to any received commands. Inparticular, in block 316, the media player module 202 monitors for anymedia content seek command. If no media content seek command is receivedfrom the user, the method 300 loops back to block 314 in which the mediaplayer module 202 continues to play the media content (and respond toother user commands such as volume control commands and/or changechannel commands).

However, if the media player module 202 determines that the user hasrequested a media content seek (e.g., to fast-forward the mediacontent), the method 300 advances to block 318 in which the requestedseek function is performed. That is, in block 318, the media playermodule 202 begins advancing (e.g., fast-forwarding) or rewinding themedia content at a higher frame rate than the frame rate of normalplayback. Because a user may request the media content seek at any timeduring the play of the media content (e.g., during playback of the corecontent such as a television show or at the initiation of or during acommercial included in the media content), the media player module 202monitors for commercials included in the media content during theperformance of the requested media content seek in block 320. The mediaplayer module 202 may utilize any suitable methodology for determiningthe presence of a commercial in the seeked media content. For example,in some embodiments, the media player module 202 may analyze metadata ofthe media content, which may indicate the beginning or presence of acommercial. Alternatively, the media player module 202 may analyze theindividual frames of the seeked media content for transitions indicativeof a commercial.

If no commercial is detected in the seeked media content, the method 300advances to block 344 (see FIG. 4) discussed below. However, if themedia player module 202 detects a commercial in the seeked mediacontent, the method 300 advances to block 324 (see FIG. 4). In block324, the advertisement determination module 204 of the media playermodule 202 determines an advertisement to be presented to the user ofthe media consumption device 102 during the performance of the requestedseek function (i.e., while the media content is being fast-forwarded orrewound). To do so, the advertisement determination module 204 may useany suitable methodology to determine or generate the advertisement.

For example, in some embodiments, the advertisement determination module204 may extract a branded image or audio snippet from the commercialitself (i.e., the commercial currently being seeked past) in block 326.To do so, the advertisement determination module 204 may analyze thecommercial for identical or substantially similar video frames in block328. In typical commercials, an advertiser often displays their brand,logo, slogan, trademark, or other company indicia for some period oftime during the commercial. For example, the ending frames of anillustrative commercial are shown in FIGS. 6A-6F. Frames 6A and 6B showthe ending frames of the commercial content, which depicts an athleterunning. Frames 6C-6E are identical to each other and show the company'sor brand's logo and brand slogan. The commercial is completed and endsin Frame 6F. In the illustrative commercial of FIGS. 6A-6F, thecompany's logo and brand slogan are shown in three consecutive frames ofthe commercial. In such embodiments, the advertisement determinationmodule 204 may extract (i.e., copy) one of the identical orsubstantially similar frames 6C, 6D, or 6E and use the frame as the seekadvertisement for display to the user during the performance of therequested seek as discussed below.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the advertisementdetermination module 204 may determine or generate the seekadvertisement by selecting a frame of the commercial based on areference time slot. For example, the advertisement determination module204 may extract (i.e., copy) the frame of the commercial occurring at areference point in time prior to the end of the commercial, which isused as the seek advertisement. In one particular embodiment, theadvertisement determination module 204 may extract the frame or framesof the commercial occurring at approximately two seconds prior to theend of the commercial, which is used as the seek advertisement. Ofcourse, other reference points in time of the commercial may be used inother embodiments. Additionally, in some embodiments, the referencepoint in time may be learned or modified over time. The advertisementdetermination module 204 may detect the end of the commercial (or otherportion thereof) using any suitable methodology such as the metadataassociated with the commercial, analysis of the commercial and/orcontent transitions, and/or other detection methodologies.

In some embodiments, the advertisement determination module 204 maydetermine or generate the seek advertisement based on an analysis of thecommercial itself. For example, in block 332, the advertisementdetermination module 204 may analyze the commercial for images ofbrands, logos, slogans, or other company or brand indicia. To do so, insome embodiments, the advertisement determination module 204 utilizesthe policy rules 222 to identify a frame of the commercial including thebranded images. For example, in some embodiments, the policy rules 222may include copies of the brands, logos, slogans, or other company orbrand indicia, which may be embodied as visual and/or audio data. Insuch embodiments, the advertisement determination module 204 may analyzethe frames of the commercial using the policy rules 222 and an image orsound recognition analysis to identify a frame and/or audio portion ofthe commercial including the company's or brand's logo, slogan, or otherindicia. Once identified, the advertisement determination module 204 mayextract (i.e., copy) the identified frame, which is used as the seekadvertisement.

As discussed above, in some embodiments, the advertisement to bepresented to the user during the performance of the requested seek of acommercial may be determined, or otherwise generated, by a device otherthan the media consumption device 102 such as the remote media contentdistribution system 106 or the remote advertisement distribution system110. In such embodiments, the seek advertisement may have beenpreviously received and stored by the media consumption device 102. Ifso, the advertisement determination module 204 may retrieve or accessthe pre-generated advertisement in block 334. For example, theadvertisement determination module 204 may retrieve the advertisementfrom the seek advertisements 142 stored in the data storage 134. In suchembodiments, the advertisement determination module 204 may maintain atable or other data structure to cross-reference the commercials of theplayed media content to the advertisements stored in the data storage134. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, each commercialmay include metadata that provides an indication of which advertisementcorresponds to that particular commercial.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the advertisement determinationmodule 204 may communicate with the remote media content distributionsystem 106 and/or the remote advertisement distribution system 110 todetermine and retrieve the seek advertisement in block 336. In suchembodiments, the remote media content distribution system 106 and/or theremote advertisement distribution system 110 may have previouslygenerated, or generate upon request, the requested advertisements usingone or more of the methods discussed above in regard to block 326.Additionally, as discussed above, the particular advertisement to beretrieved from the remote media content distribution system 106 and/orthe remote advertisement distribution system 110 may be based onmetadata associated with the particular commercial, a cross-referencedata structure maintained by the media consumption device 102, or viaanother methodology.

After the advertisement determination module 204 has determined andobtained the seek advertisement in block 324, the method 300 advances toblock 338 in which the determined seek advertisement (e.g., a copiedframe of the commercial) is presented to the user while the mediaconsumption device 102 contemporaneously performs the requested mediacontent seek function. For example, if a user requested to seek (e.g.,fast forward) past a commercial included in the media content, the mediaconsumption device 102 performs the requested seek and displays thedetermined seek advertisement to the user while the commercial is beingseeked past. In this way, the advertiser of the commercial is ensuredthat the user is exposed to the advertiser's brand, logo, slogan, orother company/brand indicia captured in the determined advertisement,even though the user may not view the entire commercial. Of course,depending on the type of media content being consumed, the advertisementmay be presented in various forms to the user. For example, inembodiments in which the media content is visual media content, such asa show or movie, the advertisement may be displayed to the user on thedisplay 130 or display device 160 during the performance of theassociated seek function. Alternatively, in embodiments in which themedia content is only audio media content, the advertisement may beembodied as an audio snippet played to the user.

In block 340, the media consumption device 102 determines whether thecurrent commercial that is being seeked past has completed. If not, themethod 300 loops back to block 338 in which the media consumption device102 continues to present the determined advertisement to the user whilethe media content continues to perform the requested seek function.However, if the current commercial is determined to be complete, themethod 300 advances to block 342 in which the media consumption device102 determines whether the user desires to continue seeking through themedia content. If so, the method 300 loops back to block 318 (see FIG.3) in which the media consumption device 102 continues to perform therequested seek function and monitor for commercials in the seeked mediacontent. Alternatively, if the user has ended the seek function in block342, the method 300 advances to block 344 in which the media consumptiondevice 102 continues to play the media content at the normal frame rate.The method 300 subsequently advances to block 316 in which the mediaconsumption device 102 again monitors for a request from the user toseek past media content.

Although the determination, generation, and/or retrieval of theadvertisement that is to be presented to the user during the performanceof a requested seek through a commercial of the media content has beendescribed above as occurring contemporaneously with or in response tothe user's command to perform the seek function, it should beappreciated that such determination may occur at the start of or priorto the playback of the media content. Additionally, in some embodimentssuch as those embodiments in which the media content is streamed, thepresentation of the media content to the user may be delayed slightly(e.g., cached) to allow the media consumption device 102 to determine,generate or retrieve the associated advertisements in anticipation of arequested seek function by the user. That is, the media consumptiondevice 102 may “look ahead” in the played media content for upcomingcommercials and determine the appropriate seek advertisement to presentto the user in the event the user requests to seek past the associatedcommercial(s).

Referring now to FIG. 5, as discussed above, the remote media contentdistribution system 106 may determine or generate the seek advertisementin some embodiments. In such embodiments, the remote media contentdistribution system 106 may execute a method 500 for generating anddistributing seek advertisements in association with the media content.The method 500 begins with block 502 in which the remote media contentdistribution system 106 determines whether to generate a seekadvertisement for a particular commercial. If not, the method 500advances to block 516 discussed below. However, if the remote mediacontent distribution system 106 determines to generate a seekadvertisement in block 502, the method 500 advances to block 504 inwhich the remote media content distribution system 106 determines a seekadvertisement based on the particular commercial. To do so, the remotemedia content distribution system 106 may perform any one or more of theadvertisement determination methods discussed above with regard to block326 of the method 300. For example, the remote media contentdistribution system 106 may analyze the commercial for consecutive,identical/similar frames and extract (i.e., copy) one of those frames tobe used as the seek advertisement. Additionally or alternately, theremote media content distribution system 106 may extract a frame of thecommercial for use as the seek advertisement based on a reference pointin time prior to the end of the commercial. Further, the remote mediacontent distribution system 106 may analyze the commercial using animage or audio recognition analysis to identify a frame or portion ofthe commercial including a brand, logo, slogan, or other indicia of theadvertiser as discussed above.

After the remote media content distribution system 106 has determinedthe seek advertisement for the particular commercial in block 504, themethod 500 advances to block 506 in which the remote media contentdistribution system 106 determines whether to embed the determined seekadvertisement with the media content. If not, the method 500 advances toblock 514. However, if the remote media content distribution system 106is to embed the seek advertisement, the method 500 advances to block 508in which the associated commercial(s) are embedded or otherwise includedin the media content (e.g., the commercials may be embedded in atelevision show having pre-defined slots for advertisements).Subsequently, in block 510, the remote media content distribution system106 embeds the seek advertisement into the media content. To do so, theremote media content distribution system 106 may attached the seekadvertisement to the media content as metadata or other out-of-band datasuch that the seek advertisement is received by the media consumptiondevice 102 along with the media content. In such embodiments, the seekadvertisements are embedded in a manner such that the associationbetween the seek advertisement and the corresponding commercial can bedetermined by the media consumption device 102 (e.g., via temporalassociation). In some embodiments, the remote media content distributionsystem 106 may embed an advertisement identification into the mediacontent, rather than the advertisement itself, in block 512. In suchembodiments, the media consumption device 102 may retrieve theadvertisement using the advertisement identification when theadvertisement is needed.

In block 512, the remote media content distribution system 106 saves themedia content including the embedded commercials and thedetermined/generated seek advertisements in a local data storage.Subsequently, in block 516, the remote media content distribution system106 determines whether the media consumption device 102 has requestedany media content. If so, the method 500 advances to block 518 in whichthe remote media content distribution system 106 transmits (e.g.,streams) the requested media content to the media consumption device102. In addition to the media content, the remote media contentdistribution system 106 may transmit or stream the seek advertisement orseek advertisement identification in association with requested mediacontent in block 520. In this way, the media consumption device 102receives the media content along with the seek advertisements (or seekadvertisement identifications) corresponding to commercials included inthe media content

EXAMPLES

Illustrative examples of the technologies disclosed herein are providedbelow. An embodiment of the technologies may include any one or more,and any combination of, the examples described below.

Example 1 includes a media consumption device for presenting anadvertisement to a user, the media consumption device comprising a mediaplayer module to play media content including a commercial and anadvertisement determination module to determine an advertisement basedon the commercial, wherein the media player module is to receive arequest from the user to seek past the commercial and present theadvertisement to the user during performance of the requested seek pastthe commercial.

Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1, and wherein to playthe media content comprises to display the media content on a display,and wherein to present the advertisement to the user comprises todisplay the advertisement on the display.

Example 3 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1 or 2, andwherein the media player module is to receive the request to seek pastthe commercial while playing the media content.

Example 4 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-3, andwherein the advertisement determination module is to search the mediacontent for the commercial, and wherein to determine the advertisementcomprises to determine the advertisement in response to identificationof the commercial in the media content.

Example 5 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-4, andwherein to determine the advertisement comprises to extract a brandedimage from the commercial, and to present the advertisement comprises todisplay the branded image on a display during performance of therequested seeking past the commercial.

Example 6 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-5, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to select an imageincluded in the commercial.

Example 7 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-6, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to analyze the commercialto identify identical consecutive frames of the commercial, and toselect one of the identical consecutive frames as the branded image.

Example 8 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-7, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to select a frame fromthe commercial based on a reference time slot at which the frame occurs.

Example 9 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-8, andwherein to select the frame from the commercial comprises to identifythe end of the commercial, and to select a frame of the commercial thatoccurs at a reference point in time prior to the end of the commercial.

Example 10 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-9, andwherein to select the frame of the commercial that occurs at a referencepoint in time prior to the end of the commercial comprises to select aframe of the commercial that occurs two seconds prior to the end of thecommercial.

Example 11 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-10, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to analyze the commercialfor a logo or phrase associated with product or service advertised inthe commercial, and display the branded image comprises to display thelogo or phrase during performance of the requested seeking past thecommercial.

Example 12 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-11, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to identify a logo orphrase associated with a product or service advertised in the commercialbased on a set of policy rules, wherein the set of policy rules includesthe identified logo or phrase.

Example 13 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-12, andwherein to identify the logo or phrase associated with the product orservice advertised in the commercial comprises to perform an imagerecognition analysis on at least one frame of the commercial.

Example 14 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-13, andwherein the advertisement comprises an advertisement received by themedia consumption device as out-of-band information associated with themedia content.

Example 15 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-14, andwherein the advertisement comprises an advertisement received by themedia consumption device as metadata of the media content.

Example 16 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-15, andwherein to determine the advertisement comprises to communicate with amedia content distribution system to retrieve the advertisement.

Example 17 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-16, andwherein the media content player is further to determine whether thecommercial is completed during performance of the requested seek pastthe commercial, and to terminate the presentation of the advertisementin response to a determination that the commercial is completed.

Example 18 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-17, andwherein the media content player is further to continue play of themedia content after termination of the presentation of theadvertisement.

Example 19 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 1-18, andwherein the media content player comprises one of a digital videorecorder, a television, or a mobile computing device.

Example 20 includes a method for presenting an advertisement on a mediaconsumption device, the method comprising playing, by a mediaconsumption device, media content including a commercial; receiving, bythe media consumption device, a request to seek past the commercial froma user of the media consumption device; determining, by the mediaconsumption device, an advertisement based on the commercial; andpresenting, by the media consumption device, the advertisement to theuser while performing the requested seeking past the commercial.

Example 21 includes the subject matter of Example 20, and whereinplaying media content comprises displaying the media content on adisplay, and presenting the advertisement comprises displaying theadvertisement on the display.

Example 22 includes the subject matter of Example 20 or 21, and whereinreceiving the request comprises receiving the request to seek past thecommercial while playing the media content.

Example 23 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-22, andfurther comprising searching the media content for the commercial, andwherein determining the advertisement comprises determining theadvertisement in response to locating the commercial in the mediacontent.

Example 24 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-23, andwherein determining the advertisement comprises extracting a brandedimage from the commercial, and presenting the advertisement comprisesdisplaying the branded image on a display while performing the requestedseeking past the commercial.

Example 25 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-24, andwherein extracting the branded image comprises selecting an imageincluded in the commercial.

Example 26 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-25, andwherein extracting the branded image comprises analyzing the commercialto identify identical consecutive frames of the commercial, andselecting one of the identical consecutive frames as the branded image.

Example 27 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-26, andwherein extracting the branded image comprises selecting a frame fromthe commercial based on a reference time slot at which the frame occurs.

Example 28 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-27, andwherein selecting the frame from the commercial comprises identifyingthe end of the commercial, and selecting a frame of the commercial thatoccurs at a reference point in time prior to the end of the commercial.

Example 29 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-28, andwherein selecting the frame comprises selecting a frame of thecommercial that occurs two seconds prior to the end of the commercial.

Example 30 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-29, andwherein: extracting the branded image comprises analyzing the commercialfor a logo or phrase associated with product or service advertised inthe commercial, and displaying the branded image comprises displayingthe logo or phrase while performing the requested seeking past thecommercial.

Example 31 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-30, andwherein extracting the branded image comprises identifying a logo orphrase associated with a product or service advertised in the commercialbased on a set of policy rules, wherein the set of policy rules includesthe identified logo or phrase.

Example 32 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-31, andwherein identifying the logo or phrase associated with the product orservice advertised in the commercial comprises performing an imagerecognition analysis on at least one frame of the commercial.

Example 33 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-32, andwherein determining the advertisement comprises accessing anadvertisement received by the media consumption device as out-of-bandinformation associated with the media content.

Example 34 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-33, andwherein accessing the advertisement comprises accessing an advertisementreceived, by the media consumption device, as metadata of the mediacontent.

Example 35 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-34, andwherein determining the advertisement comprises communicating with amedia content distribution system to retrieve the advertisement.

Example 36 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-35, andfurther comprising determining whether the commercial is completed whileseeking past the commercial, and terminating the presentation of theadvertisement in response to determining that the commercial iscompleted.

Example 37 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-36, andfurther comprising continue the playing of the media content afterterminating the presentation of the advertisement.

Example 38 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 20-37, andwherein playing the media content comprises playing the media contentvia one of a digital video recorder, a television, or a mobile computingdevice.

Example 39 includes one or more machine readable storage mediacomprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that in responseto being executed result in a media consumption device performing themethod of any of Examples 20-38.

Example 40 includes a media consumption device comprising means forperforming the method of any of Examples 20-38.

Example 41 includes a media content distribution system to deliver mediacontent to a media consumption device, the media content distributionsystem comprising an advertisement determination module to (i) extract abranded image from a commercial, (ii) embed the commercial in mediacontent, and (iii) associate the extracted branded image with theembedded commercial; and a communication module to transmit the mediacontent, including the commercial and the branded image, to the mediaconsumption device in response to receipt of a request for the mediacontent.

Example 42 includes the subject matter of Examples 41, and wherein toextract the branded image comprises to select an image included in thecommercial.

Example 43 includes the subject matter of Examples 40 or 41, and whereinto extract the branded image comprises to analyze the commercial toidentify identical consecutive frames of the commercial, and to selectone of the identical consecutive frames as the branded image.

Example 44 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 40-43, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to select a frame fromthe commercial based on a reference time slot at which the frame occurs.

Example 45 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 40-44, andwherein to select the frame from the commercial comprises to identifythe end of the commercial, and to select a frame of the commercial thatoccurs at a reference point in time prior to the end of the commercial.

Example 46 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 40-45, andwherein to extract the branded image comprises to analyze the commercialfor a logo or phrase associated with product or service advertised inthe commercial, and to associate the branded image comprises toassociate the logo or phrase with the embedded commercial.

Example 47 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 40-46, andwherein extract the branded image comprises to identify a logo or phraseassociated with a product or service advertised in the commercial basedon a set of policy rules, wherein the set of policy rules includes theidentified logo or phrase.

Example 48 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 40-47, andwherein to transmit the media content comprises to transmit the brandedimage as metadata associated with the media content.

Example 49 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 40-48, andwherein to transmit the media content comprises to transmit the brandedimage as out-of-band data associated with the media content.

Example 50 includes a method for delivering media content from a mediacontent distribution system to a media consumption device, the methodcomprising analyzing a commercial to extract a branded image from thecommercial; embedding the commercial in media content; associating thebranded image with the embedded commercial; and transmitting the mediacontent, including the commercial and the branded image, to a mediaconsumption device in response to a receiving a request for the mediacontent.

Example 51 includes the subject matter of Example 50, and whereinanalyzing the commercial comprises selecting an image included in thecommercial.

Example 52 includes the subject matter of Examples 50 or 51, and whereinanalyzing the commercial comprises analyzing the commercial to identifyidentical consecutive frames of the commercial, and selecting one of theidentical consecutive frames as the branded image.

Example 53 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 50-52, andwherein analyzing the commercial comprises selecting a frame from thecommercial based on a reference time slot at which the frame occurs.

Example 54 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 50-53, andwherein selecting the frame from the commercial comprises identifyingthe end of the commercial, and selecting a frame of the commercial thatoccurs at a reference point in time prior to the end of the commercial.

Example 55 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 50-54, andwherein analyzing the commercial comprises analyzing the commercial fora logo or phrase associated with product or service advertised in thecommercial, and associating the branded image comprises associating thelogo or phrase with the embedded commercial.

Example 56 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 50-55, andwherein analyzing the commercial comprises identifying a logo or phraseassociated with a product or service advertised in the commercial basedon a set of policy rules, wherein the set of policy rules includes theidentified logo or phrase.

Example 57 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 50-56, andwherein transmitting the media content comprises transmitting thebranded image as metadata associated with the media content.

Example 58 includes the subject matter of any of Examples 50-57, andwherein transmitting the media content comprises transmitting thebranded image as out-of-band data associated with the media content.

Example 59 includes one or more machine readable storage mediacomprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that in responseto being executed result in a media content distribution systemperforming the method of any of Examples 50-58.

Example 60 includes media content distribution system comprising meansfor performing the method of any of Example 50-58.

What is claimed is:
 1. A media consumption device for presenting anadvertisement to a user, the media consumption device comprising: amedia player module to play media content including a commercial; and anadvertisement determination module to: analyze the commercial toidentify identical consecutive frames of the commercial; learn areference time slot based on other media content; and select one of theidentical consecutive frames as a branded image based on the learnedreference time slot, wherein the media player module is to receive arequest from the user to seek past the commercial and display thebranded image on a display during performance of the requested seek pastthe commercial.
 2. The media consumption device of claim 1, wherein toselect the one of the identical consecutive frames from the commercialbased on the reference time slot comprises to: identify the end of thecommercial, and select a frame of the commercial that occurs at areference point in time prior to the end of the commercial.
 3. The mediaconsumption device of claim 1, wherein to: analyze the commercial toidentify the consecutive frames of the commercial comprises to analyzethe commercial for a logo or phrase associated with a product or serviceadvertised in the commercial, and display the branded image comprises todisplay the logo or phrase during performance of the requested seekingpast the commercial.
 4. The media consumption device of claim 1, whereinto analyze the commercial to identify the consecutive frames of thecommercial comprises to identify a logo or phrase associated with aproduct or service advertised in the commercial based on a set of policyrules, wherein the set of policy rules includes the identified logo orphrase.
 5. One or more machine readable storage media comprising aplurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to beingexecuted, causes a media consumption device to: play media contentincluding a commercial; receive a request to seek past the commercialfrom a user of the media consumption device; analyze the commercial toidentify identical consecutive frames of the commercial; learn areference time slot based on other media content select one of theidentical consecutive frames as a branded image based on the learnedreference time slot; and display the branded image on a display whileperforming the requested seeking past the commercial.
 6. The machinereadable storage media of claim 5, wherein to select the one of theidentical consecutive frames from the commercial based on the referencetime slot comprises to: identify the end of the commercial, and select aframe of the commercial that occurs at a reference point in time priorto the end of the commercial.
 7. The machine readable storage media ofclaim 5, wherein to: analyze the commercial to identify the consecutiveframes of the commercial comprises to analyze the commercial for a logoor phrase associated with product or service advertised in thecommercial, and display the branded image comprises to display the logoor phrase while performing the requested seeking past the commercial. 8.The machine readable storage media of claim 5, wherein to analyze thecommercial to identify the consecutive frames of the commercialcomprises to identify a logo or phrase associated with a product orservice advertised in the commercial based on a set of policy rules,wherein the set of policy rules includes the identified logo or phrase.9. A method for presenting an advertisement on a media consumptiondevice, the method comprising: playing, by a media consumption device,media content including a commercial; receiving, by the mediaconsumption device, a request to seek past the commercial from a user ofthe media consumption device; analyzing, by the media consumptiondevice, the commercial to identify identical consecutive frames of thecommercial; learning, by the media consumption device, a reference timeslot based on other media content selecting, by the media consumptiondevice, one of the identical consecutive frames as a branded image basedon the learned reference time slot; and displaying, by the mediaconsumption device, the branded image on a display while performing therequested seeking past the commercial.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein selecting the one of the identical consecutive frames from thecommercial based on the reference time slot comprises: identifying theend of the commercial, and selecting a frame of the commercial thatoccurs at a reference point in time prior to the end of the commercial.11. The method of claim 9, wherein: analyzing the commercial to identifythe consecutive frames of the commercial comprises analyzing thecommercial for a logo or phrase associated with product or serviceadvertised in the commercial, and displaying the branded image comprisesdisplaying the logo or phrase while performing the requested seekingpast the commercial.
 12. A media content distribution system to delivermedia content to a media consumption device, the media contentdistribution system comprising: an advertisement determination module to(i) analyze a commercial to identify identical consecutive frames of thecommercial, (ii) learn a reference time slot based on other mediacontent, (iii) select one of the identical consecutive frames as abranded image based on the learned reference time slot, (iv) embed thecommercial in media content, and (v) associate the extracted brandedimage with the embedded commercial; and a communication module totransmit the media content, including the commercial and the brandedimage, to the media consumption device in response to receipt of arequest for the media content.
 13. The media consumption device of claim4, where to identify the logo or phrase associated with the product orservice advertised in the commercial based on the set of policy rulescomprises to identify a phrase associated with the product or serviceadvertised in the commercial based on the set of policy rules, whereinthe set of policy rules includes the identified phrase.